Persimons, Pumpkins & Gourds

We are very busy making hoshigaki and working with it in all its stages. We're still peeling and hanging new persimmons, massaging them, and moving them from room to room, according to what environment the stage they're in requires. The weather is still good for peeling and hanging new hachiya persimmons, although it has been hotter than usual for this point in the year. We've even had to block some of the drying persimmons from the sun during the hottest parts of the day.

Some of the first persimmons that were peeled at the end of September are getting sugar and are nearly at their finished state. We expect that within two weeks we'll have the first supply of hoshigaki to sell at the fruit stand and to send out in mail orders. We welcome people to visit the orchard to see how we make hoshigaki, but we only have small amounts we can sell until more of this year's hoshigaki is finished.

There is still time to visit our pumpkin patch. You can take a wagon or cart through the orchard and bring pumpkins back to the fruit stand to check out. Kids can also play on the hay bale maze. We have small colorful gourds for fall decorations and large gourds for crafting, too.

What can you find in the Fruit Stand?

• Persimmons--Hachiya, Maru, Hyakume (vodka-treated), and small quantities of Hoshigaki (dried)
• Asian Pear--Okusankichi
• Apples-- Golden Delicious, Granny Smith
  
• Pomegranates--white and red varieties
• Quince
  
• Jujube
  
• Vegetables--zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles (both sweet and hot), garlic, Swiss chard and basil
• Pumpkins--in the fruit stand and in our pumpkin patch
• Gourds--lots of different kinds for decorating and crafting

Above are photos of gourds growing in one of the vegetable gardens.

What's in the Fruitstand

In the fruit stand we now have:

• Persimmons--Hachiya, Maru, Hyakume (vodka-treated), and small quantities of Hoshigaki (dried)
• Asian Pear--Okusankichi
• European Pear--Comice
• Apples--Fuji, Mutsu, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith
  
• Pomegranates--white and red varieties
• Plums--Casselman
• Quince
  
• Jujube
  
• Vegetables--winter squash, zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles (both sweet and hot), garlic, onions, potatoes, Swiss chard and basil
• Pumpkins--in the fruit stand and in our pumpkin patch

Chris found a really easy and delicious recipe for quince candy on a blog in which she was also surprised to find Otow Orchard mentioned. She made some and has samples in the fruitstand. Here's the link: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004155quince.php

Above is a photo of a pomegranate flower in the spring.

What is a jujube?

This weekend we learned more about jujubes when we went to Twin Peaks Orchards in Newcastle to demonstrate making hoshigaki as part of the PlacerGrown's yearly Farm and Barn Tour. We have a few jujube trees at the orchard and sell jujubes in the fruit stand, but we haven't felt like we know very much about them. Customers at the fruit stand sometimes say that they remember having jujubes dried in tea, or that they remember them from childhood and are so surprised to see them again. People often ask what they taste like, but it's hard to describe because it's something like a dry apple or pear with other flavors mixed in.

Twin Peaks Orchards grows a lot of jujube (amongst other fruit) and has a flyer out with more information about them. According to their flyer, jujubes are also called "red dates" or "Chinese dates" and are a small tree in the buckthorn family. "The immature fruit is smooth-green, and resembles the consistency and taste of an apple, but as it matures more, it darkens to red to purplish-black and becomes wrinkled, looking like a small date (hence the name Chinese Date)." Jujube contains many vitamins, including a high concentration of vitamin C, and are "one of the world's oldest fruits, used in Chinese medicine for over 4000 years."

At left is a photo of a jujube growing at our orchard.

Ordering Hoshigaki

We'll post an announcement here on the web site when this year's hoshigaki (dried persimmon) is available. If you plan to order some it is best to get your order in as soon as possible, as we are never sure how much the weather will allow us to make.

Call us if you would like to pick up an order at the fruit stand. If you would like hoshigaki or other fruit mailed to you, please print out the order form from our website and mail it to us with a check. We have samples of last year's hoshigaki in the fruit stand, but this year's hoshigaki isn't yet finished.

Persimmon Season Begins

We have started peeling and hanging hachiya persimmons to dry for hoshigaki. Come to the fruit stand if you can, and see the beginning of the process. We also have some fresh hachiya, maru (chocolate) persimmons and hyakume persimmons in the fruit stand. We treat the hyakume with a bit of vodka to remove its natural astringency. The vodka is undetectable to the taste, but the hyakume is left sweet and delicious, even when still firm.

This week, Otow Orchard will be featured on television on the PBS show, California Gold with Huell Howser. Last fall he and his show's staff came to interview us about making hoshigaki (dried persimmons). We haven't seen the show yet ourselves, but we've heard good reviews of it from people in Southern California who saw it a few weeks ago. In our area it is showing on Oct. 9th on KVIE at 8:00 PM, on Oct. 10th at 2:00 PM, and on Oct. 11th at 4:00 AM.

In the Fruitstand we now have:

• Persimmons--Hachiya, Maru, Hyakume (vodka-treated), and Hoshigaki (dried)
• Asian Pear--Okusankichi
• European Pear--Comice
• Apples--Fuji, Mutsu, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith
  
• Pomegranates--white and red varieties
• Plums--Casselman
• Peaches--only a few clings left
• Quince--a good crop this year
• Jujube--just a few left
• Vegetables--winter squash, green and yellow zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles (both sweet and hot), Japanese eggplant, garlic, onions, potatoes, Swiss chard and basil

Mail order form 2008

We have had a wonderful response to the showing of "Persimmons" on the PBS California Gold program. Some people who e-mailed me on Sept 24 were told to go to the Hoshigaki/Persimmons tab on our web site and click the "What's New" tab at the top of the page to get the mail order information. That is no longer true. Just go to the Hoshigaki/Persimmons tab on the web page to get to the Mail Order Form, or click here on the words in this post for a link. Sorry for misguiding you.

If you missed the program, it will be shown again on Oct. 9 in the Los Angeles area and also in the Sacramento area.

Above is a photo of our hoshigaki gift boxes.

Otow Orchard featured on PBS's California Gold

We have been told that the piece Huell Howser did about persimmons and making hoshigaki at Otow Orchard for the TV show California Gold will air tonight on PBS stations in Southern California. On October 9th it will air for the first time here in Northern California, and again in Southern California. .

Last Fall he and the show's crew came and spent part of a day filming and interviewing us when we were making hoshigaki (dried persimmons) at the orchard. We haven't yet seen the final version, but it seems that you can order it on the show's website.

In the photo you can see Toshio demonstrating how to make the "kaki knot" to string up a peeled persimmon (kaki) to dry for hoshigaki.

What's in the Fruitstand

Right now in the fruitstand we have:

Plums--Casselman, Kelsey and Tom's Plum (a tart red plum grafted by our neighbor, Tom Koyama)
Peaches--a few Fairtime and Carnival, the last of the season
Asian Pear--Okusankichi, 20th Century, New Century, Shinko
Apples--Fuji, Yellow Delicious, Mutsu
Figs--a few left, the last of the season
Persimmons--a few very early maru

Vegetables--yellow and green summer squash, a few tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, onions, garlic, the first butternut winter squash, and gourds

One variety of hot pepper we have is called "Fish pepper". It's an African-American hierloom variety of chile often used for flavoring fish. Slow Food's Ark of Taste has a good description of it.

Also, we still have a supply of last season's hoshigaki (dried persimmons) available for ordering.

Above is a photo of a ripening fuyu persimmon.

Murphy

We are sorry to say that Murphy died this past Friday. Murphy was the neighbors' dog that always visited the fruit stand. She had had cancer for quite a while, and no longer could walk or run and fetch sticks like she used to. Above is a photo of her at the orchard two Octobers ago, during persimmon season.

Asian Pears

The first Asian pears are now at the fruit stand. In the photo above are Hosui and Kosui varieties. We have harvested Hosui, Kosui and some Twentieth Century. A lot more varieties will be coming up.

We're are almost out of Faye Alberta peaches, but Rio Oso Gem and O' Henry are being picked and sorted to sell. We expect to have peaches still for the next few weeks.

Fay Elberta Peaches

We have delicious Fay Elbertas at the fruit stand for sale. We expect that they'll last only a few more weeks at most. If you want some for canning, freezing or jam, we have lots of seconds.

Here's a good description of Fay Elbertas from localharvest.org--

"The Fay Elberta is a yellow-fleshed freestone peach. The skin is fuzzy and yellow with a red blush. The peach is firm with a fine texture, and has a spicy aroma and a rich, distinctive flavor. It ripens in early August. The Fay Elberta is a rare find in California's stone fruit regions, and is currently a threatened variety."

Peaches

I bet you've eaten canned peaches from the store. Sweet, syrupy, and kinda crisp. But also a bit bland? All sugar and no flavor?

But maybe you've had home canned peaches. Sweet, syrupy, and with a bit of peach flavor. Maybe even a slight tang left to prove they're really a fruit?

And if you're really lucky, you've had home canned peaches made from peaches right off the tree at a local farm. Sweet, yes. Syrupy, yes. crisp... no. Succulent! Flavourful! Melts-in-your-mouth-summertime-in-a jar.

Ah.. but it's currently summer... so why am I rhapsodizing about canned peaches? There's a little peach tree in the corner of my grandmother's garden at the ranch. It's a volunteer that grew from a pit in the compost about ten years ago. It doesn't get irrigated like the rest of the orchard. And every year, it gets peach leaf curl in the spring and all its leaves fall off. And every year it has one or two small, green peaches that become small yellow fruit with reasonable flavour but not really anything we're going to sell.

Well yesterday I walked by the peach tree and saw that there were decent sized peaches on it. and I looked down and one had fallen off the tree. So I picked it up and bit into it.

Remember how I described home-canned, farm fresh peaches? Summertime in a jar? Melts in your mouth? Syrupy sweet? This peach was better.

It was tender. It dissolved in my mouth. It was sweeter than sugar syrup and yet it was juicy, not sticky. The flesh was yellow with delicate red lines shooting out from the pit. The skin of most peaches is slightly bitter and the flesh near the pit very sour but with this one, those disappeared along with the rest of the peach into my mouth, down my throat, and into my stomach.